1 bucket list course (and hole), according to you
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Our professional course partners get their say in evaluating the best golf courses on American soil every two years, as they recently did in our 2024-25 Top 100 Courses in the US and Top 100 Courses to Play rankings. But our readers – you! – have ideas and information, too. Here we’ll reveal a few factoids and past dreams that emerged from the 2024 GOLF’s Top 100 Courses Student Survey.
What if you get a chance to play anywhere GOLF’s Top 100 Courses in the US? Would you choose a more exclusive club like Pine Valley or Chicago Golf Club? Maybe you’re looking for a scenic course like Fisher Island or Cypress Point. Or you can choose to play where the pros play and go with TPC Sawgrass or Bethpage Black.
It’s hard to go wrong when choosing courses from our Top 100 list. Among them are some of the greatest courses our country has to offer, after all. However, everyone has a top course on their bucket list — I know I do (Fishers Island).
So we asked you; and here it is you said.
Top bucket list courses
According to our readers, the choice on the bucket list was clear. Augusta National, the annual home of the Masters, led the way in our survey with 50 percent of respondents saying Alister MacKenzie was at the top of their bucket list. The public gets a sneak peek of the course every April, but playing it has a different appeal – evidenced by its popularity among our readers.
Cypress Point was the second most popular answer at 18 percent, while upscale Pine Valley was third at 12 percent. Rounding out the top five were Pebble Beach, National Golf Links of America and Shinnecock Hills (tied).
Top bucket list hole
Augusta National is very popular among our readers, and that theme continued in our survey of top bucket list holes. The most popular answer for a bucket list hole was Augusta National’s par-3 12th, with 31 percent of students choosing Golden Bell.
The excellent Cypress Point was second with 15.5% of the vote, and Augusta National’s par-5 13th was third with 12.4%. TPC Sawgrass’s island-green 17th was fourth and Pebble Beach’s par-3 7th rounded out the top five.
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